App Store Apps

iON Bond review: bringing particles together at last in this great puzzle game

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 27, 2018

Science. What a fun subject. You learn about the elements, sound waves, viruses, and all kinds of amazing stuff that exists in our universe. However, when I was in school, I don’t think anyone would have claimed that the subject was fun, exactly. Too bad there weren’t more cool video games to play that would help me identify with what I was learning.

iON Bond isn’t particularly educational, but it does take the basic concept of particle collision and turns it into a fun puzzle game. Check out our game review of iON Bond and see if it is something you’d like to play…

Adobe unveils Ink stylus, Slide ruler, Lightroom for iPhone and Mix iPad app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 1, 2018

Earlier today, Adobe made a flurry of product announcements and updates, starting with the official unveiling of two long-rumored accessories: the aluminum Ink stylus for iPads running iOS 7.0 or later and the Slide.

Billed as an Ink companion and "a category-defining digital ruler", the Slide wirelessly connects to an iPad and has been designed for precision sketching of straight lines, perfect circles and balanced shapes.

In other Adobe news, the firm has launched Lightroom for iPhone, introduced brand new iPad apps - Mix, Sketch and Line - added major new features across the whole Creative Cloud desktop suite of apps and reshuffled the Creative Cloud tiers by adding a new Photography Plan.

Don't worry, I've distilled the announcements to a couple easily digestible highlights so hit the jump to learn more...

Waze updated with new UI, enhanced sharing features and more

Cody Lee ∙ June 18, 2014

Fans and users of the popular Waze GPS app will be happy to hear that the mapping client received a significant update today. The release brings about several changes, including various redesigned UI elements and a handful of useful new features.

The new UI covers the ETA screen, which now lets users easily share their drive with friends and family, and also adds a new icon in the ETA tab that shows the number of users tracking your trip. We have a full breakdown of the new features below...

Twitter now supports animated GIFs

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 1, 2017

Twitter, the leading micro-blogging platform, is rolling out native support for animated GIFs to its mobile apps and across the web.

By adding native GIF support to both the web interface on Twitter.com and mobile apps on iOS and Android, the startup has finally jumped on the trendy bus of GIF memes.

Twitter's free iPhone and iPad app wasn't updated at post time though the company said in a tweet that "starting today, you can share and view animated GIFs on Twitter.com, Android and iPhone". As it turns out, no software update will be needed as Twitter has confirmed that GIFs will be supported by its official API...

Google issues iOS 8 fix for Chrome

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 18, 2014

Google's free Chrome for iOS browser is one of a few dozen popular iPhone and iPad applications that crash or refuse to work properly on iOS 8. And although the second beta of iOS 8 claims improved compatibility with third-party software such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, Chrome still wouldn't work reliably.

Acknowledging as much, the Internet giant has just issued a minor Chrome for iOS update with stability fixes and "compatibility with new iOS versions"...

Asphalt 8: Airborne introduces new Fuel system, extra tank and additional cars

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 18, 2014

France-based games maker Gameloft has released a fuel-injected update to its freemium Asphalt 8: Airborne racing game for the iPhone and iPad, its fifth major content update thus far.

Now live in the App Store and labeled with version 1.4, the game offers several new features while ditching the dreaded rental fee for events. Instead, you now enter time-limited events using a brand new Fuel system.

Jump past the fold for full details...

Camera+ maker launches no-frills photography app, MagiCam

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 18, 2014

Camera+ is still my favorite go-to photo editing software on both the iPhone and iPad so you could imagine me jumping with joy learning that Taptaptap, the Camera+ developer, has just released a brand new photography software.

Framed as a bold, new experience in iPhone photography, MagiCam is focused on snapping photos and transforming them into gorgeous, eye-catching shots with little or no effort on your part.

You can grab it for just 99 cents in the App Store and I have a video of it in action right after the break...

Blow your enemy away with QuadBlast

Lory Gil ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

Normally, I pass on games that require you to tilt your device in order to play the game. There are a few exceptions where a game is so good that I put aside my dislike of tilt controls.

Quadblast is one of those tilting games that stand out from the rest because of the action-packed arcade style that pushes the limits of your reaction skills while offering hours of entertainment. Looking silly in public is totally worth it…

Garmin launches Víago app with turn-by-turn navigation, lane assist, offline maps and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2018

GPS navigation giant Garmin has released a new consumer navigation app in the App Store which seeks to offer a reasonable tradeoff between basic features and more advanced stuff found in significantly more expensive navigation software for the iPhone.

Featuring the latest maps from the Nokia's Here service (formerly Navteq) licensed worldwide and costing 99 cents ($1.99 after July 13), Viago allows you to search addresses and points of interests anywhere in the world, with turn-by-turn navigation available within your region.

Advanced features such as landmark-based directions and active lane guidance that simplifies junction navigation are paid upgrades just a tap away.

Jump past the fold for the full reveal...

Spendbook is an elegant and useful personal finance tracker

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 27, 2018

We’ve reviewed a number of personal finance apps in recent months, especially since the launch of iOS 7. One complaint I’ve heard is that many of the new app designs look too cartoonish or childlike.

Spendbook – Personal Finance Tracker is a comprehensive budgeting app that doesn’t look like a candy shop. Instead of a white background with pastel colors, you’ll be tracking your spending with a dark themed app that won’t make you feel like you are looking at a coloring book…

Snapchat rolls out new Our Story feature

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 18, 2016

Facebook has just rolled out its would-be Snapchat killer, but Snapchat is unfazed. In fact, after introducing a photo sharing feature called My Story earlier in the year, today the startup rolled out a similarly conceived Our Story feature for groups of people.

In a nutshell, Our Story uses your location to allow fellow Snapchatters who are at the same event location to contribute snaps to the same Story.

Whereas Our Story is for communal snap at events, My Story is still available when you and only you want to add multiple images to a single album, without other people contributing to it...

Facebook launches Slingshot, its would-be Snapchat killer

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 12, 2018

The social networking giant Facebook could be poised to take a significant chunk of the ephemeral messaging market with the formal release of Slingshot, its new and long-rumored iPhone application that just surfaced on the App Store after briefly appearing yesterday.

The free download offers features you'd normally associate with Snapchat, which has popularized the trend of so-called disappear apps where message and media exchanges between participants get automatically deleted after a predetermined period of time...